"That'll depend on how well she does" said Cassius, smiling slightly. "But it will be good practice either way. For me too, I'm terribly rusty." He began on his meal, even using the human utensils provided, since he had company. None of the other three were nearly as neat, although they tried their best to stay on good behavior and not spray too much food on the others.

Ginger decided to leave Cassius alone while she picked at her meal. The salad was far more interesting anyway. Rex was gnawing on the ribs, his lips stained brown with barbeque sauce.

"So, Cassius," Sidney said, still dressing her potato to her liking. "I told you what I've been up to since last time, now it's your turn. Did you just come straight back from Fortree City, or did you make some other stops?"

"Ah, essentially. I'd been away from the gym for awhile, and I had some... health issues," best way he could think to describe the condition, although it was rather more complicated than that "so I came back a few days after the contest. There've been a few incidents in the town, but things have been quiet for the past year or so."

"(Incidents? Well, that's one way to describe the mislead Tauros stampede last autumn)" muttered the other haunter

"(Or the HUGE blizzard last winter. We hadn't had one like that for ten years)" added the shuppet.

"(Or those three lovesick gothic girls who are practically camped out on our doorstep, they challenge us so often)" added the dusclops, sighing. "(dunno if I'd call it quiet.)"

"And Pandora and the others? How've they been?" the ninja continued to question, distractedly prodding her food with her fork. Taro was already halfway done with his lunch, and began eyeing the other's potato hungrily. "You mentioned Godfather traveling on his own. What sort of journey is he on?"

"Pandora's been well, you'll probably see the others this evening, they're doing well too. Godfather... ah, he encountered a female charizard on our way back from the Hoenn region, and decided to go back to the area." The female had been nearly as large as he'd been as a charizard, and none to happy to have some weirdo ghost on her tail, but he'd decided to try his luck again.

"Well, that sounds romantic," Sidney said, giving the stereotypical female response. To Ginger, it just seemed stalker-ish. The last thing she'd want is a creepy ghost following her. The absol absentmindedly flicked the last grape around her bowl, trying to block out the sounds of the mightyena crunching up bones beside her.

The dark haired trainer turned her attention to her plate, but noticed the hungry marowak still staring at the lumpy contents. She smiled, then wordlessly pushed it over. No wonder the girl was so skinny. She gave all her food away.

Cassius sighed. "I suppose" he said, although he found it sort of depressing. The gengar was unlikely to ever win over his female of choice, and eventually he'd have to give up hope of trying. But I'd rather not go off on that tangent again he thought, and focused on his food.

"(Hey, Ginger, I'll trade you one of my dumplings for your grape)" offered the shuppet. "(I don't think I've ever had a grape before.)" Fresh, non-poisonous fruit was a rarity in the mansion, and the shuppet didn't eat out very often.

"(You can have the grape,)" she said, flicking it across the table towards the shuppet. "(And I need to be in perfect health for later tonight. I'm taking no chances.)"

Sidney glanced down the table to her right to see how her pokemon were coming along. Aside from Taro, everyone looked full and satisfied. Abina, naturally, had eaten everything off her plate and was currently picking at her teeth with her claw (Sidney wondered how lettuce could get stuck in one's teeth). Suzaku was stripping the meat off his last wing and Lulu had already pushed her plate away.

Shuppet took the grape and began to peel it. He'd had two thirds of an orange once, and assumed the same principle applied in miniature. "(Thanks)" he said, struggling to get off all the skin. "(And good luck fighting Cass. I hope you don't get totally mutilated.)"

Cassius, seeing that everyone was just about finished, called for a waiter, who assured him the meal was on the house. The shuppet's remaining dumplings were finished off by Cassius, while he struggled with his strange new fruit. "I guess we're about ready to head back, then. I'd better stop on the way to get some food for you, though, if you're planning to stay the night." Sidney, Mike and their pokemon would need dinner and breakfast, at the least. They probably had some leftover pancake mix, but there was no guarantee something toxic wasn't already mixed into the powder.

"(I'm not going to get mutilated!)" Ginger told the shuppet. "(If you've jinxed me, I'm coming after you, kid. I've got a shadow ball with your name on it.)" Whatever his name was...

"You really don't need to bother," Sidney told him. "I've got enough berries in here to last me and my pokemon a couple of days." But the truth was that Sidney's stash was quickly running low. She had forgotten that wild berries were scarce in Kanto, as opposed to Hoenn. Probably because it lacked the same growing conditions. But she didn't want the gym leader worrying too much about them, especially since it was her fault for appearing at his mansion at such short notice.

"Alright, gang. Time to go." She returned all her pokemon back to their pokeballs, save Ginger, of course, and Taro, who was clinging to her leg and silently blinking up with big, round puppy eyes. For someone wearing a skull over his head, he sure knew how to make cute faces. "Fine, fine. You can stay out. But just for a little while."

"I need to get more supplies for my ghosts, anyways" he said, "and I usually get a little human food in the mix- not everything they eat has to be toxic."

"(Could we get grapes? They're pretty tasty, once you get 'em peeled.)"

"(You don't have to peel grapes y'know, Shuppet)" muttered the dusclops, shaking her head.

((Time skipping time! -fwoosh-))

"Ah, you really didn't need to get all this," Sidney said, a grocery bag in each hand. Taro proved to be helpful, carting two bags as well. Ginger lacked arms, so Sidney had hung the bag on her blade, which the absol had tolerated reluctantly.

"(What are you talking about?)" she sighed. "(Besides, it's been years since I had Pokepuffs cereal...now with berries, twenty-five percent more puffs, and seventy percent chance of heart attack after consumption.)"

The girl stopped before the front door, turning to look at Cassius. "This way? Or is there a secret entrance?"

Cassius also had two bags, although his ghosts seemed to have gotten by with only one each. "This will last maybe a week or two with a few dozen ghosts attacking it, if we're lucky." It was a good thing they grew most of their own food, or the gym would be broke from the grocery bill alone. "The front will work fine, we just need to use the right hallways."

He led the group inside, and over to a door on the side of the main hallway, carefully concealed behind a large purple curtain. "Most of the mansion is through here" he said, opening the door, "we keep it sealed off from most gym challengers. We can put this stuff away, and then I'll see about a gym match for you, Mike."

"(Let's skip the gym match and get straight down to business,)" Ginger suggested, quickening her pace so that she was walking beside the ghost. "(C'mon, the anticipation is killing me. Besides, I know you want to be free of that prison. The sooner the better, right? C'mon, please?)" She was doing the grin again, the one that looked like it hurt.

"Actually, I'd really rather wait a few more days. Sometimes if I stay in long enough I can walk through walls." Usually after his legs had started to fuse, the haunter DNA taking over the human DNA, which made doing the actual walking part difficult. "You'll have to wait until tonight at least, Ginger."

The house's kitchen was a mess. It was big, fortunately, but ill-kempt and crowded with ghosts trying to find themselves some last-minute lunch. "(Pandora's still upset)" one of them informed Cassius, "(but he's mostly just mopey. He stopped personally insulting the darkling about ten minutes after you left.)"

"(Say what?)" Ginger was curious as to what the ghost was talking about. "(How low can you get, honestly? Does he act like that every time you lose?)" Then he's going to be hysterical when he finds out I beat his trainer in a one-on-one battle, she thought, smirking a bit. But just then, she ducked as a ghost whizzed right over her head. Oh, right. This place is swarming with ghosts. Just my luck...

Sidney took the bags from her pokemon and set them down on the counter. Once his load was lightened, Taro wandered off to mingle with the ghosts, though didn't say a word to any of them. He appeared to be studying their faces, moving from one to another.

"(It's not that. You said something quite rude to him while under a confusion attack. He was probably upset because he thought you meant what you said") explained Cassius, putting his bags on one of the few clear vertical surfaces in the room. He told three nearby ghosts that they'd just graciously volunteered to help put away the groceries, and they reluctantly started to help.

"(Is that so?)" She vaguely remembered saying something to the two of them during the battle, but chances were she had been thinking it and the confusion attack simply encouraged her to let it slip out. But she wouldn't let Cassius know this. It was enough knowing that one ghost was mad at her. "(Ah, what a silly misunderstanding. I could tell him I'm sorry. Do you know where he is?)"

After examining every ghost in the room, Taro returned to his mother--but the young woman was too busy assisting the others with putting away the groceries to pay him any mind.

"(He's probably hiding in one of the walls. I'm sure he'd appreciate an apology the next time you see him, though, even if it was just the confusion speaking.)" The comment would have insulted nearly every ghost in the mansion, but fortunately none of those present at the time had thought she meant it save Pandora, who had extra reason to be upset.

"We're all done!" Sidney said, a little too cheerily, sprinting over the Cassius and the others. "Groceries are all put away!"

"(You'll make a very lovely housewife someday,)" Ginger commented, though her trainer couldn't understand her. "(If you weren't a two-hundred year old haunter, I'd suggest you two hook up,)" she said next, this time to Cassius. Sometimes the absol should stick her nose our of other people's business. She tended to be a bit too vocal with her thoughts. "(I mean, you're not a bad looking guy...albeit a bit creepy. But that's easily fixable.)" She grinned. "(Mike ain't too shabby either. He's just got the IQ of a twig. All those electric waves sizzled what's left of his brain.)"

"(I highly suggest you stop making fun of my trainer, thank you very much. He's actually very smart, once you get to know him, but you're too busy making patheticly sarcastic remarks about him and just about everyone else who isn't your trainer.)" sighed Lighthouse. Before leaving the restuarnt, Mike had returned all of his Pokemon, except Lighthouse, for he had a mild case of claustrophobia.

Mike meanwhile was just browzing the store, for he had restocked right before he left Vemillion. "I really would like a Gym match, although there wouldn't be much of a point to it, seeing as I've already completed the Kanto League...I'd much rather fight your stronger Ghost Pokemon."

"(One of these days speaking before you think is going to get you into a fair bit of trouble)" warned Cassius, "(Careful or I'll start translating for the two of them.)" Although, privately, he sort of agreed in reverse. Sidney could flip a grown human over her back (and had once demonstrated on him) and was doubtless trained in the rest of Koga's ninja arts. She would have been a very attractive pokemon, had she not had the misfortune of being born a human.

"I can assemble my usual team for you then, Mike, although I will need to find a substitute for Godfather. Or" he paused, "if you're willing to wait until this evening, I will fight your team personally. After Ginger, of course." Seven pokemon in a row would be a bit of a stretch, but he needed a challenge.

Mike gulped. He wasn't sure how strong Cassius really was, but he didn't want to take too much of a chance. But he really wanted a challenge, and Cassius was sure to give him one. "Sure, I can wait til this evening; I choose to fight you. Is one-on-one fine with you?"

"(He isn't serious is he? Ah, oh well. I sure would hate to be the sucker who has to fight him.)"

"One on one at a time, until you manage to knock me out" he said, "or until I get through all six. It will be good practice if you really think you can find and fight a legendary." He smiled his best ghostly smile, eager for the challenge. I'll just have to make sure we have revives nearby, in case I do end up fainting.

"All right then, it's settled." Mike smiled back. "He must be confident if he thinks he can beat all 6 of my Pokemon...either that, or he's really really good."

Lighthouse gulped.

"(I'm doomed, unless I go last and the other 5 can beat him before I have to fight him.)"